Hairwing Flies

Skykomish Sunrise
By Pete Hiatt*

Recipe

Tail: Red & yellow.

Body: Orange yarn with silver tinsel.

Wing: Polar Bear.

Hackle: Red & yellow.

*About Pete Hiatt

I came from Portland, Oregon and started fishing 18 months later. I got
my first steelhead at the age of 5 which was the start of my downfall.
I went to high school in Newport with all the salmon and
steelhead fishing that area provided.

I got two Engineering degrees at OSU in Corvallis and
mainly fished the Alsea and Crooked River. There were
no engineering jobs in the NW at that time so I settled in
Ventura, California at the Pacific Missile Test Center,
Pt. Mugu. I was a DOD engineer and the NAVY's expert in
the propulsion systems of the TOMAHAWK and HARPOON cruise
missiles. I was also the Senior Engineer for experimental
ground ordnance testing at the base.

Now decent fishing is hard to find in Southern California
and when I saw some fellows digging a ditch from the ocean
to the mouth of the Ventura River, it raised my curiosity. The
river is dry for most of the year, but the winter rains
form a bit of a lake betwixt it and the ocean until it
breaks through the built up sand dune. As I found out,
there was an unknown to most) steelhead run that a few
locals took advantage of. Sure enough, there were
steelhead coming up the newly dug slot. That was heaven
for many years until I finally returned to Oregon.

I settled in the middle of the best American hunting/fishing
country outside of Alaska here in Central Oregon. I have
a fancy wood business for gunstocks and do some marketing
for a local resort. I also raise Egyptian Arabian horses.

My fly fishing life began when an alleged friend swiped
my uncle's boat before I could one day and came back to shore
with a chest full of cutthroats caught on fly. Then my uncle
showed up and instead of chastising him, we had him guide us
with a couple of extra fly rods he had handy (I have learned
never to turn down an oarsman). That was the start of my
downfall into fly fishing. Flies available from the local shop fell
apart too easily so I started tying my own. I put myself through
college engineering tying and guiding on coastal rivers. An early
retirement found me easy prey to more of the same affliction,
although my hero and mentor, Joe of Joe's Worms & Juicy
Grubs & Special Protein Drink keeps me fishing various
methods. ~ Pete